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Teen Banned From School Bus for Defending Bullied Special Needs Kid

A teenager tried to do the right thing and got punished for
it. High school senior Stormy Rich got banned from the
school bus after reporting the bullying of a
special needs student.

For months, Rich watched as they treated a mentally challenged middle school
girl cruelly, telling her she couldn't sit in certain spots and
feeding her food they had put in their mouths. "Just because she doesn't
understand doesn't mean that should be happening to her," said the
Umatilla High School student, who was riding a later middle school bus because
she didn't have a first period class.

When the bus driver did nothing, the horrified 18-year-old took her
complaint to school officials. She and her mother both wrote
formal letters but weeks went by with no response.

In her frustration, Rich told the bullies if the school wouldn't do anything
about it, she would. That's when officials finally got involved, telling her she
could no longer ride the bus because she was displaying bullying
behavior. Their stance: two wrongs don't make a right. They went on to
say they didn't get involved because the girl supposedly being picked on never
complained herself and that she is capable of doing so.

Sorry, I'm not buying that excuse for a failure to act on behalf of a special
needs student -- or any student for that matter. How many times have we seen
victims of bullying remain silent out of fear. And in this case, it is unclear
if the girl really understood what was happening to her. Does that make it any
less wrong? At the very least, they should have looked into the matter.

It was appallingly irresponsible to dismiss Rich's
complaints. Then to punish her for standing up for a girl she didn't think could
stand up for herself is both shocking and sad. How can we teach our kids to do
the right thing when the adults they come face to face with do not.

Wait a minute, she got kicked off the bus for standing up to a bully? The school failed in many ways and the bus driver failed big time. My DD's bus driver will stop the bus if 'anyone' is acting up, and we are only a mile or two from the school(and across a major road). I think the school and the bus driver should be banned.

Unfortunately we are raising a generation of cowards, we are taking our children's right to defend themselves away from them. We tell them to tell an adult, to stay away from the bully etc. Its sad to say that most adults are not equipped to handle bullying and you can't always avoid the bully. A Lot of times tattling on the bully only makes the situation worse for the kid being bullied. I work in a school system and a lot of time the schools first answer to a report of bullying is to tell the victim to avoid the bully. I don't understand that, you have a right to stand up for yourself and defend your self.

Wow.....this is how bullying these days happens. If you're getting bullied, you're afraid to report it because 9 times out of 10 nothing happens, and it just gets worse. I told on someone for picking on me in highschool, the teacher just told him to stop it. After that it just got worse, so much so he would wait outside of class to follow me to my next one to yell out duke, and say other nasty things to me. It wasn't until something was actually done when I popped him in the jaw because he wouldn't leave me alone. I got suspended for a week while he had nothing done to him even though I told them. Schools don't want to stop bullying, they don't care. They only care when violence is involved, and the victims are punished for defending themselves. It is so wrong that this girl is being picked on, and now the girl that defended her is being punished because she was willing to stand up for someone who couldn't. Just wow. My kids will be home schooled.

I applaud that young lady for doing the right thing. The school was very wrong in what they did, their actions show they side with the bullies, the young lady student who is mentally handicapped was picked on by the other students because of her disability, she did not fully understand what was happening to her. So she couldn't say anything about it The school officials should be reported to the particular state board of education so that this matter could be fully explored and the proper actions taken. The school officials are just doing what many school officials do and that is make themselves look good so they can keep their jobs. If there was a camera on the bus that video can show clearly what was happening on that bus and that bus driver should also face some type of disciplinary action for not reporting this and not taking any action to protect the student who is mentally disabled. This story saddens me and I do hope that there will be an update on what the outcome is. I would be more than happy to sign a petition if there is one already in place to help this young lady who did the right thing get back on that bus.

Time and again, we are seeing RULES without sense or compassion or even thought. Schools enact a "rule" and overlook anything not specifically or completely lining up within the parameters of the "rule". If something had or does happen to the special needs student being mistreated on the bus, they will shake their heads and give some speech about "not bullying" and act as if they "did everything they can" which we all know is often ...not a damn thing until it's too late. That should be most schools motto, "We won't do a damn thing until someone gets shot" ugh, this story makes me mad as hell. The girl that did the right thing is being punished and yet nothing for the ACTUAL bullies-infuriating.

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